Miyazaki’s Film ‘How Do You Live?’ Opening Without Any Trailer/Info
by Alex Billington
June 5, 2023
Source: THR
Some very intriguing news this week for those anxiously awaiting the brand new Hayao Miyazaki-directed animated film titled How Do You Live? Even though Miyazaki-san “officially” went into retirement after finishing his “final” film The Wind Rises back in 2013, he came out of retirement to make another feature. He’s one of these artists who just can’t stop creating, who just can’t stop telling stories, no matter how old he is (Miyazaki is currently 82 years old). How Do You Live? is finished, and finally ready to debut, but they’re not going to promote it the usual way. Studio Ghibli has confirmed that the film will open first in Japan on July 14th, 2023 this summer – however, it will be released without any trailer, any images, or any official synopsis, only one vague poster. Yes, seriously. This is a remarkably bold, unprecedented marketing move for any studio worldwide. Of course, Ghibli can (and will) pull this off because they’re already beloved. More than anything, this makes me more excited to see what he’s been (quietly) cooking up these past few years.
Here’s all we do know: How Do You Live? is an animated movie made by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (his 12th feature film). It is inspired by the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino, but has an original story that is not a direct adaptation of the novel. The project has been described as a “big fantastical film“. Late last year, Ghibli released one official poster featuring a hand-drawn bird on it. In 2014, Ghibli announced they would no longer making new films. However, in 2017 when Miyazaki came out of retirement to start working on this, they brought back a lot of the original animators for one last film. Previously, producer Toshio Suzuki stated that Miyazaki is working on the film for his grandson as his way of saying “Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving behind this film.” It took them six years to complete this film, not only due to pandemic delays, but also because Miyazaki-san can’t work as fast now and the animation team is much smaller. Suzuki also stated that “it takes us more time to complete a film because we’re drawing more frames.” It’s finally ready after these years, but they won’t tease any of it.
In a new 2023 interview, Toshio Suzuki revealed some more details about their release plans for How Do You Live? – translated by THR. The film skipped premiering in Cannes, and rumor is it won’t premiere in Venice either, instead opting for the “local” Japanese unveiling in that country before eventually expanding overseas. Suzuki says that they’ve decided not to tease or show any of the film before July 14th. They won’t even announce the voice cast, setting, or any other info about the plot. “As part of company operations, over the years Ghibli has wanted people to come see the movies we’ve made… So we’ve thought about that and done a lot of different things for that purpose — but this time we were like, ‘Eh, we don’t need to do that.'” Suzuki adds this tidbit: “Deep down, I think this is what moviegoers latently desire,” while also criticizing American marketing that shows so much of the movie you’ve seen it all before you even go to watch it. “We wanted to do something different.” I have to say – this is absolutely brilliant and I’m all for it. Of course, it helps that Miyazaki is an animation legend and most of us will go watch whatever he makes no matter what.
That’s all we know for now… There won’t be a Japanese trailer, at least not before July 14th. We won’t know what it’s about or what it looks like. I’m sure there will be tons of reports arriving from Japan in July telling everything, and they may release images (or a trailer) eventually. Until then, this is a remarkably ambitious and courageous decision. I love seeing Ghibli respond to the American marketing strategies of showing too much by trying the exact opposite. And I’m sure we’re all going to see this movie anyway. Especially if How Do You Live? really is Miyazaki’s last film after The Wind Rises. We’ll keep watching for any other updates.
